1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to security devices and, more particularly, to an extensible cable that can be used to secure articles, such as garments, against theft.
2. Background Art
The clothing industry has been plagued by theft for many decades. The problem of theft is particularly prevalent in operations that display coats and other garments that lend themselves to being tried on in the vicinity of the racks on which they are displayed. It is not uncommon for individuals to walk off unnoticed wearing stolen garments.
Various types of security devices have been developed by the assignee herein, among which are devices for securing hangers to a display stand and devices for securing a flexible cable, connected to an article to be secured, to a lockable housing.
This latter device typically has an elongate, flexible locking cable. A loop is formed in one end of the cable to allow passage therethrough of the other end of the cable to define a constrictable lasso. The other end of the cable has a fitting thereon to be secured to a housing on a stand on which the garment is displayed. An exemplary housing suitable for locking a cable end is shown in U.S. application Ser. No. 676,825, assigned to the assignee herein.
In most such devices, the cable is looped through the sleeve of a garment and out the collar. An 8 foot cable allows the user the necessary freedom to remove the garment from the hanger on the display stand, and try the garment on, as to check for fit and appearance.
One serious drawback with this cable device is that with the cable made sufficiently long to allow the consumer to try the garment on, a substantial length of the cable will project from the sleeve and normally hang down close to or on the floor. Persons passing by the stand may trip on or become entangled with the excess cord. The potential for personal injury thus exists.
One proposed solution to this problem has been to preform the cable with a coil having a plurality of turns which are extendable and retractable to allow variation of the cable length. With the cable in a relaxed state, the coil reduces the effective length of the cable. Typically, the coil is constructed to eliminate on the order of two feet from the overall length of the cable. This is sufficient to elevate the cable above the floor so that it is not in the path of individuals passing by the display stand.
While the coil eliminates one problem, it introduces a different problem. The coil is prone to tangling as the coil is repeatedly extended and retracted as when the consumer removes the garment and stretches the cable to try the garment on. This phenomenon commonly occurs with flexible, coiled cords, such as conventional telephone cords that extend between a handset and receiver. Once the cable tangles, the coil may not be extendable to the required effective length to allow a garment to be tried on. Further, the tangled coil may obstruct the passage of a consumer's arm through a garment sleeve within which the cable resides.
To overcome the tangling problem, the garment purveyor may choose to eliminate the coil altogether and contend with the aforementioned problem of the cable's resting on or in close proximity to the floor.